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I am an avid student of history. As such, I know that wars are real. And they come in different shades and colors.
The current situation in Kenya and the whole world actually is a deadly war on terrorism. Period. Let no one coat it otherwise. Now, if it is a war, why are we handling it with kid’s gloves? Why do I ask this question?
You and I know that in times of war, every enemy is treated as a combatant. The military takes over, the regular police take the back seat.
But what is happening in Kenya leaves me very worried. After an attack like the Garissa University College students massacre, the Kenya Defense Forces appeared clueless as to how to fight a modern close quarter war.
Today’s wars are no longer conventional. They are fought in close quarters. In Westgate Mall and recently in Garissa, it has proven beyond doubt that we cannot depend on our military to solve this puzzle.
What is needed is a re awakening by the KDF to realize that the times we are living are very perilous. The times demand a change of tactic. Every police station in the republic must be equipped to deal with immediate terrorist attacks.
We all saw how the terrorists had an easy time at Mpeketoni police station. The terrorists knew that the Kenya police is poorly trained and poorly armed. They in turn had a field day.
The same thing happened in Garissa. How do we expect different results if we employ the same tactics? Reports are that the Garissa murderers finished their bullets and started using knives to slaughter our children. Yet the military could not face them! Jameni help me understand this.
The four-day Westgate Mall hold up with only four iffy jiggy rag tag militia boys indeed put the whole nation to shame. Of course it could have ended on day one had the military swallowed its pride and let the RECCE squad complete the mission.
In Garissa, the military barracks are a stone throw away from the attacked campus. Yet we had to wait for up to ten hours for the RECCE squad to be driven from Ruiru to finish the job.
We cannot, the whole 40 million of us, depend on a unit centralized in Ruiru. What if the terrorist mount several attacks at the simultaneously? It can happen. It has happened elsewhere.
The terrorists are very patient. They study, they take time. They find the soft spot. They know when to hit. They way lay. And when we least expect, they hit.
The terrorist is your next door neighbor. He or she is unassuming. He rents our houses. He rides in our matatus. He is a university student. He is a high school student. He is a pharmacist. He is a regular guy. But his mind is messed up by Islamic radicalization.
You cannot identify the terrorist before he strikes. Relatives are bamboozled when they discover their adorable son or daughter is Al Shabaab.
What now?
My take, do not send the terrorist to the same police cells with chicken thieves. Do not send him to Kibera law courts. He is not a common criminal. He is a military combatant. Period. He has taken up arms to wage war against a modern state.
Treat the captured terrorist the way you would treat a prisoner of war. For heaven’s sake have a military court handle the matter. Have special holding jails for these murderous gangs. Set aside any civil handling of the terrorists.
Do not give him bail. Do not hand a terrorist a 25-year jail term and a rungu-wielding Mpesa shop-breaking youngster life imprisonment. Send him to Guatanamo Bay for all I care, and may he live there the rest of his miserable life. Delay his meeting with the said 72 virgins until he is too old to rise up to the occasion when he lays next to one.
By Peter Gaitho | babaashley2@gmail.com